A Giant Leap Forward for 1010data

What an amazing deal for our customers, our shareholders, our employees, Advance/Newhouse, and our vision for the future. When we started the company 15 years ago I wouldn't have dared hope that we'd have such an all-around nice outcome. And it isn't really an "outcome" since we have miles of road ahead of us on our journey!

I've been talking to a slew of people in the press and industry-analyst community and the conversation always starts with puzzlement. Why Advance/Newhouse? Why not a big tech company? But once I do my spiel, they get it.

So what do I tell them? Well, I say that I am going to explain why we did the transaction at this time, why we chose Advance/Newhouse, and why Advance/Newhouse chose us. And then I get into the details:

Why did we do the transaction at this time?

We have been targeting 2015 for a couple years now, given our projections of where things were going. And, in fact, three things came together that made the transaction worth doing:

We have been growing very well organically, i.e. without primary capital, but we could grow even more with additional capital.

The market is good.

We have specific ideas as to how to use additional capital.

Why did we choose Advance/Newhouse?

This is a deal where everyone won:

Our customers won because our product strategy stays the same and they continue to get the great service they rely upon (which would likely not be the case had we been acquired by a tech company.)

Our employees won because they all get to keep their jobs and keep doing what they've been doing (which would certainly not be the case had we been acquired by a tech company.)

Our shareholders won because they got a good price.

1010data, as a concept and vision, won because we get to keep pushing our disruptive product offerings and really change the world.

In fact the only losers are our competitors and those who didn't get to acquire us!

Why did Advance/Newhouse choose us?

Advance/Newhouse is a company that looks to invest in good companies in growth sectors. 1010data had several things going for it:

We are in the data and analytics space, which is hot and will become more and more important.

We have been doing well, are well organized, and have a vision for future growth.

We are really in the information business as much as the tech business, which resonated well with Advance/Newhouse since they are also in the information business.

So there it is. It was the right time and everyone wins, even the company vision. That's why I've signed up to continue with the company and even invest in it going forward. And, now that the transaction is completed, I am really looking forward to continuing the journey!